A venomous little corporate confession: a novel about advertising, consumption, self-loathing, cocaine, sex, brands, money, and the professional manufacture of desire.

Its narrator, Octave, is an adman who understands the machinery from the inside and despises it with the special intimacy of someone still being paid by it. The result is not subtle, it is glossy, cynical, obscene, and very French about falling apart.

Originally published in France as 99 Francs, the novel sits somewhere between satire, autofiction, industry exposé, and marketing department nervous breakdown. A good one for readers interested in consumer capitalism, media culture, French literary provocation, anti-work fiction, and novels that smell faintly of cigarettes, perfume, and bad decisions made near a photocopier. Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter.

Picador paperback, first UK edition, first printing, 2002. Originally published in a slightly different version as 99 Francs by Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle in 2000. Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter. Good second-hand condition, with light cover wear, minor corner and edge wear, and mild page toning. Binding sound.